7 Weird Things Your Body Does (And What They Mean)

That hiccup may have something behind it.

Burps, hiccups, and gas — sometimes your body seems bent on embarrassing you! Here, a guide to understanding what is causing these little annoyances and what you can do about it.

1. Farting
"Some of the foods that are poorly digested by us, but are loved by our colonic bacteria, form a lot of gas," says Adam Cifu, MD, professor of general medicine at the University of Chicago and co-author of the textbook Symptom to Diagnosis. "A lot of the stuff you're told to eat to keep yourself regular, such as high-fiber foods, scrub the colon. They also feed that intestinal bacteria, and that bacteria causes gas."

What you can do about it:Steer clear of foods such as beans, sugar-free gum, lactose-laden milk, and raw veggies like cauliflower, cabbage, and broccoli. And know what's normal: A typical person passes gas about 16 times a day.

2. Burping
When you burp or belch, your abdominal muscles contract, releasing excess air from the esophagus or stomach. "Some people swallow air habitually and need to burp to get the air back out," says Michelle S. Barratt, MD, MPH professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.

What you can do about it: Avoid drinking too fast, smoking, sucking on hard candy, chewing gum, or consuming carbonated drinks, which cause you to swallow more air. Also, cut down on heartburn triggers like chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, and tomatoes that open up the esophagus, says Steven Feinleib, MD, an internist in the Cleveland Clinic's preventive medicine department. "Acid reflux can contribute to belching."

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3. Itching
"The initial itch is meant to push away any irritant that's there," says Gary Rogg, MD, assistant director of internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and assistant professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "When you scratch that itch, it feels good so it stimulates some pleasure area in the brain, which is why you keep wanting to itching it."

What you can do about it: Scratch something that's not you, like a couch. "If you can divert the urge for even a minute or two, it will go away," says Barratt.

4. HiccupingOfficially called "singultus," hiccups are a more "rhythmic, intense form of belching," says Safwan Jaradeh, MD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences at Stanford University Medical Center.

What you can do about it: Wait it out.People usually getfour to 30 hiccups at a time, says Cifu. Case reports suggest that it may help to press on the eyeballs or pull knees to the chest. Though nobody has conducted a large-scale clinical trial on hiccup remedies, some doctors recommend holding your breath, drinking a glass of water, breathing into a paper bag, putting crushed ice in your mouth, or placing one half-teaspoon of sugar at the back of the tongue. "Granulated sugar helps relax diaphragmatic muscles," says Rogg.

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5. Blinking
You blink to lubricate your eyes, rinse them, or protect them from danger. "If something flies in front of your eyes very quickly, your optic nerve senses that as a visual stimulus," says Jaradeh.

What you can do about it: Keep eyes moist. "Natural tear-type eye drops are totally fine — just saline," says Cifu. And don't forget to get enough sleep. "As we get tired, secretions in the eye decrease," adds Rogg.

6. Coughing
"When the lungs are unhappy, the only thing they can do is make you cough," says Cifu. That gets something out of the airway that doesn't belong there.

What you can do about it: Don't smoke, and avoid second-hand smoke and other irritants.

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7. Sneezing
"The purpose of sneezing is to remove an irritant," says Rogg. That can be black pepper or smoke or "foreign particle or allergen that's irritating," says Michele Bailey, DO (doctor of osteopathy), at Rush Medical Center in Chicago. "It gets past the nasal hairs and irritates the mucosa of the nose. It's a protection mechanism for the body."

What you can do about it: Try putting your fingers under your nose and holding them there "until the urge resolves," says Rogg. "Pressure applied here overdrives the signal." And avoid what you know tends to irritate your nose, says Barratt. If you're looking for an over-the-counter remedy, try an antihistamine. One caveat: Antihistamines can cause sedation and can dry the eyes and mouth, says Cifu.

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